Legend of the Summer Narwhal
by Silent Knight I
Summary: June, 1985. Charlie Weasley tells his younger siblings a monster story, which is unfortunately taken to heart.


This was written for a contest run by a Harry Potter fan group on DeviantArt, with the theme 'summer'. It won first place, which was awesome! Please have a read, I hope you enjoy. :)

...

Summer was late in coming when Charlie Weasley returned to the Burrow from his first year at Hogwarts. There followed long tales to his younger siblings of the castle's endless hallways, the professors both frightening and friendly, and (for the thousandth time) his jubilation at being sorted into Gryffindor. But it was not the same when they all had to stay indoors, staring out at endless rain.

'Maybe it's the Summer Narwhal,' were the fateful words that started it. At once, five pairs of wide eyes were fixed on Charlie.

'What's that?' whispered little Ron, hugging his knees.

'You'll learn about it when you go to Hogwarts,' Charlie invented, inwardly delighted that even the twins looked curious. 'It's a magical beast, with one long horn, and all it wants to do is hog the summer sunshine to itself. Yep' – here he looked out into the garden, as the pounding rain backed him up – 'I'd say the Narwhal is succeeding so far.'

'That's bollocks,' the twins scoffed.

'Is it?' said Charlie, turning on them. 'Because it looks to me like the Narwhal has already captured most of the sunshine, and put it deep in its belly for safekeeping.'

'If that's true, someone would have found it and stopped it by now,' said Percy wisely.

'Oh I don't know, it's hard to catch,' Charlie teased. 'And it's a man-eater, so you don't want to get too close.'

Percy's brow furrowed over his enormous glasses as he tried to think of an argument, but Charlie was a Hogwarts student now, and that commanded a certain amount of authority. As long as the kids didn't double-check with Bill, Charlie felt he might have just started a great legend.

Later that night, long past bedtime, the twins were working on developing a legend of their own. They knelt on the stairs in the dark, smiling with convincing sincerity at their only sister.

'It won't hurt you,' George whispered in his most kindly tone. 'One bite –'

'– and already, you'll start to fade,' Fred continued. 'Eat the whole thing –'

'– and you'll be totally invisible!' George declared.

Little Ginny stared transfixed at the large speckled mushroom in Fred's outstretched hand. The promise of the world's only Invisibility Mushroom was just too tantalising, and she was daring to nibble a tiny edge of it when approaching footsteps made Fred pocket his homemade mushroom with one quick swipe.

But it was only Ron who came stumbling towards them, in his pyjamas and with hair standing on end. 'I've seen it!' he squeaked fearfully.

'Seen what?'

A minute later, they were squeezed together at Ron's attic-room window, peering off into the neighbouring hills. And there it was! Now that the rain was taking a break, a peculiar shape was visible not far away, in the shadows cast by the moon – a large, rounded something, with a single long horn.

'It's a rock,' said Fred at once.

'There's no rock there, I know there isn't!' Ron insisted, pressing tiny fists to the glass. 'It's the _Summer Narwhal_, like what Charlie said!'

'It's sleeping,' Ginny peeped, fascinated.

There was a long moment of reverent silence as they observed the strange view. Summer Narwhal or not, it was unlike any creature they had ever seen. Nobody moved; until the twins turned to each other with sudden matching grins.

Ron whinged all the way downstairs, loudly enough to disturb Percy, who immediately added his own doomsaying. This did not dampen the enthusiasm of the twins, nor of Ginny, who was quick to get excited about nighttime adventures.

Gumboots and unseasonable jackets over their pyjamas, they crawled out the kitchen window one by one, seeing as the back door always shrieked when it was opened.

'You'll just be disappointed,' Percy exhorted them, even as he moved to help Ginny clamber onto the damp grass beneath the windowsill. 'You're lucky I heard you, if Mum and Dad knew what you were doing –'

'This could be our only chance,' Fred whispered with a scowl. 'We've got to steal the sunshine back while it's sleeping.'

'You better not tell, Percy, this one's ours!' added George.

'But Ron's afraid,' Percy pointed out, as the smallest boy at once swallowed a whimper and shook his head.

'Not scared, are you, Ronnie?' Fred jeered, already setting off into the garden. 'Even Ginny's not scared of it.'

Ginny gave Ron a smug smile before scurrying along after the twins, who were starting to carve a path through the long grass that lead into the surrounding fields. Percy glowered after them.

'Charlie made up that tripe about the Narwhal anyway,' he declared.

But Ron, Fred's teasing too fresh, had switched gears. 'I _saw_ it,' he breathed impressively, gesturing with his arms. 'It was _this big!_ And it's got our sunshine, don't it?'

Forcing a brave look onto his face, Ron hurried after the others, and Percy only hesitated long enough to give a pompous 'Hmph!' before following. After all, if there really was a Summer Narwhal near their home, he didn't want his younger siblings getting in its way – or getting the credit for finding it, either.

They only had to climb over two hills before the Narwhal came into sight. Close up, the beast seemed much bigger and even more alien. It was a silvery colour and sort of shiny, with a long bronze horn protruding from its head, and the unmistakeable sound of its snoring filled the little valley. The kids fell into a huddle in the shadow of a log.

'I really don't believe it,' Percy whispered in such a tiny voice that he could hardly hear himself. 'But ... I think we should go back and tell someone.'

'Go on then,' Fred smirked. 'We're not leaving without our sunshine.'

Percy regarded the impenetrable hull of the creature with much doubt. 'How? Didn't Charlie say the sunshine is in its _belly?'_

'Not our fault if you didn't bring a weapon,' George murmured, and he and Fred both patted their jacket pockets with significant smiles.

In that moment, Percy decided he believed in the Summer Narwhal. He certainly believed in it enough to know that they were about to do something very inadvisable to a strange creature of unknown power. And even if the twins were prepared, the littler kids were quaking; this was hardly appropriate for Ginny especially, who had barely graduated from being a toddler.

'Let's go back,' said Percy firmly, taking Ginny and Ron by the hands. 'That thing's a man-eater!'

'Relax, there are no _men_ here,' George deadpanned, as Fred acted. A small, dark object sailed from his hand and landed right beside the slumbering creature.

'What was that?' hissed Percy.

A sudden _bang_ broke the peace as something like a miniature bomb exploded, a tiny stream of white sparks making the Narwhal's side gleam. Its rhythmic snoring faltered.

Percy didn't know whether to laugh or panic. 'Is that some _Zonko's_ rubbish?'

'We have to wake it if we want to get inside it!' Fred said gleefully. 'All right, Percy, you go for the horn –'

'_I'm not doing this!'_ Percy insisted, but the twins had already bolted the log and were scuttling right up to the creature. Fear for them stronger than his fear of the beast, Percy started to follow, as four more exploding toys shattered the night's stillness.

The snoring had stopped. The creature was beginning to stir and grumble. Ron tried to flatten himself into the ground, but peeped over the edge of the log at Fred and George, who were racing back and forth, lobbing one crackling bomb after another.

Percy tried to make a grab at George as he shot past, but was suddenly frozen to the spot with dread – the silver creature was trembling, and a great, dark maw was opening in its side.

The twins paused their assault, beaming with success as Percy wavered, fearing his knees would give way. But visions of saliva-strung fangs were unfounded; instead, a rumbling voice emerged from the toothless mouth, uttering in the language of man, 'The hell's going on?'

And then there was light – brilliant, glaring, pouring from the creature's very mouth. They all cringed, Ron ducking further behind the log, Percy throwing his arms over his head.

'It's the sunlight!' yelled Fred.

George wielded another explosive. 'Give it back, ya filthy –'

But it was Ginny's tiny feet that suddenly flew across the grass. Hands outstretched, she ran blindly into the glare with a baffling cry of _'I'm invisible!'_

She jumped, her tiny frame silhouetted against the beams, and for one glorious second, Percy thought she might actually capture the sunlight in her bare hands. But the Narwhal did not stand idly by. Something dark seized the little girl around the arm, and she stumbled.

'Kids?' the Narwhal grunted.

Instinct, or panic, or the bravery of little Gryffindors in the making made all the boys surge forward at once, and no matter how fearsome the beast may have been, it was most certainly outnumbered. Percy was suddenly curled around its horn, bending it with a frightful cracking sound; George had wrenched Ginny from the Narwhal's grip; and Fred had hurled a final bomb straight into the jaws of the beast, just as Ron ran up with no real idea of what he would do.

With a finishing _bang_, the Narwhal cried out in pain and gave a great shudder. The stolen sunlight fell from its grip and straight into the waiting arms of Ron, who, momentarily stunned at his success, simply stood there until Fred's bellow of _'Run!'_ rent the night.

They pelted across the hills, slipping on the wet grass, shrieking their victory. The sunlight bounced in Ron's arms, lighting their way home.

Only once they had gone did the shape of a large, pyjama-clad man emerge into the moonlight, rubbing the bump on his head and wondering what the world was coming to. Unless he was much mistaken, his humble tent had just been set upon by a gang of children who all looked under ten. What was even weirder was that despite doing damage to his telescope, the item they'd chosen to steal was his torch.

The night passed, and in the final grey moments before dawn, five flame-haired children stood in a line on the ridge of a hill near their home, watching traces of pink mark the path of the coming sun. Ron was firmly in the centre, small frame puffed with pride, their prize in his hands.

Charlie might not have noticed the ceremony, but the kids' noisy jubilation had broken into his sleep. He now found himself standing behind them, afraid to ask. Even Percy looked chuffed.

'So...' Charlie began.

'We rescued the sunlight from the Narwhal,' said Fred, without looking behind him.

'It was pretty much just like you said,' George murmured.

Charlie suspected it was too early for conversations like this. He rubbed his eyes, but the scene was still before him. 'Mm ... the Narwhal. Like what I said.'

'We're giving the sunlight back to the sun,' said Ginny seriously.

At the precise moment the golden edge of the sun crested the hills, Ron lifted the contraption the Narwhal had used to imprison the sunlight, and pressed the soft bit on its side that made the light come out. Charlie turned back to the Burrow, deciding that this would become clearer in a few hours' time once his brain had woken up too.

As Ron aimed the brilliant beams straight back to where they belonged, Ginny farewelled the sunlight with a wave. She needn't have bothered, because the sunlight returned, with all its warmth, in the day that followed.


End file.
